


MALEFICENT

by fleetfoot221



Category: Maleficent (2014)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, I Don't Even Know, My First Fanfic, mostly canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-11
Updated: 2015-03-09
Packaged: 2018-03-11 22:52:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3335777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fleetfoot221/pseuds/fleetfoot221
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once Upon a Time...... (a novice fan author tried to write the story of Maleficent.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Some of this story will seem all too familiar to those who have seen the motion picture, and I did use the movie as this stories' base and and guiding theme. I have changed/ forgotten many parts of the story and of course added to and embelished the story with my own ideas and imagination.
> 
> Wish me luck,
> 
> Nobody Important
> 
> I apologise for any spelling mistakes. <3

Once upon a time there were two Kingdoms. Well, one wasn't really a Kingdom for it had no King, but no matter, we'll address that in a moment. Anyway, once upon a time in these two Kingdom's that could not be more dissimilar in ruling or plenty, we begin our story.

The first Kingdom, Alatia, was inhabited by people much like you and me. They lived and died without so much as a magical eyelash. The people of Alatia were ruled by a greedy and ruthless king. KIng Theobald the Fifth, and were constantly jealous of their neighbors.

Now their neighbors, these being the inhabitants of the second Kingdom, had no King at all, and were perfectly happy in their well-protected and peaceful land, the Veil of the Faeries. Grudgingly called "The Moors" by the people of Alatia. And of course the citizens of the Veil were faeries.

The two Kingdoms were so different and so at odds with one another that legend said only a terrible villian or a great hero could bring the two lands together in harmony.

Nestled deep within the Veil of Faerie lived a young girl. A young faerie girl of course, but a young girl all the same. Her name was Maleficent.


	2. Where We Begin

As rosy coloured dawn faded into bright-eyed morning the young Maleficent absentmindedly brushed the last dream cobwebs from her eyes. The fleeting dream carried with it the hopes of a grand romance, and something to do with a marvelous dance.

She blinked once or twice, and yawned, still sleepy. Maleficent was a beautiful child, her hair was long and well-kept, her hands and feet dusty and delicate, and her unusual yellow-green eyes bright and perceptive, drinking in everything around her. Most striking however were her tall and elegantly curved horns and large restless wings, attributes that marked her as truly fae, for all faeries had wings.

Maleficent smiled brightly, curling her wings just close enough to stretch before leaping up with a throaty laugh and swooping off through the forest.

"Good Morning!" She called across the stream to the water-skipping faeries. "Hello," she said cheerfully to the sleepy-faced flower faeries. "I like your cap!" She called out to the old mushroom-man faerie.

"Thank you," he called back, tipping said toadstool cap at her as she swooshed past him.

She let the feathers of her wings dip into the stream, "Good Morning," she said to each of the various faeries gathered at the stream bank as she sped past, perhaps lower than intended, which brought some muttered protests from the less than grateful faeries.

As she flew farther down the bank she spotted the long-trunked mud faeries lying in wait for her to fly just close enough to - Whap! - a mud ball lobbed over Malefient's delicately pointed ear to hit Flora, one of the more dandelion fluff headed faeries, right in the flower hat. Maleficent giggled as Flora spat indigently and hollered obscenities at the mud-faerie responsible.

A little farther along Maleficent could hear the cries of another faerie. "Maleficent!" A tree nymph waved her over. Maleficent banked sharply and landed before the distressed creature.

"What is wrong?" She asked.

The wood faerie shook her head so violently her long ears flopped in an undignified manner against her mossy hair. "It's the Boarder Patrol, they say they've caught a man trying to leave with stolen jewels!"

Maleficent's feathers ruffled with excitement. "Don't worry, I'll take care of it," she reassured the distraught creature as she leap into the air and rushed off to see to the commotion.

Flapping her great wings even leisurely left most faeries far behind, so pumping her feathered limbs with purpose she soon reached the boarder line and approached the scene where the Boarder Guards had cornered the would-be thief in one of the shallow caves just within the Sentinel Stones.

Fluttering nervously down behind Balthazar she asked what had happened. The low roar of his reply quickly filled her in on the man's theft and the guards brief pursuit. Nodding sagely she called out to the intruder who had hidden within the thick foliage of the cave mouth.

"You there! Come out and return what you stole!"

"No. I won't." A voice called back, a much higher and younger-sounding voice than Maleficent had expected.

Starting a little she replied, "Please come out, we promise we'll let you go as long as you give back what you took."

Out of the wide olive green leaves cautiously stepped a boy. No taller or threatening than Maleficent herself. "Why, you look almost normal." The boy said rudely to Maleficent. "Much better looking than these ugly things," he muttered at the vine and tree made faeries of the boarder guard who growled indignantly.

"Hush," said Maleficent, "don't believe a word he says, you are classically handsome." Which brought pleased rumblings from her friends and an astonished look from the human boy.

Maleficent studied the boy more closely. "Are you full grown?" She asked.

"No." Said the boy, who stared at her with his nose scrunched up funny. He had never seen a girl so beautiful, even with her twisted horns and lengthy wingspan, he could see the kind charm in her smile, and the beauty in her intelligent gaze.

"What is your name?" Maleficent asked.

"Stephan." The boy replied.

"My name is Maleficent." She nodded in affirmation, her wings bobbing gracefully with her head. "Now give back what you stole."

She gestured to the small pouch at his waist, and with a huff he handed over the bright green gem he had tried to leave the Veil with.

With hardly a second thought Maleficent let the stone fall from her hand and into the pool of water at her feet.

The boy looked horribly confused as he peered down his longish nose at the spot the gem disappeared into. "Well, I would have kept it if I knew you were just going to throw it away."

"I wasn't throwing it away," Maleficent said calmly, "I was merely putting it back where it belonged." This only seemed to distress the boy further, as he looked at her confused with his mournful sloe-eyes and stringy brown hair.

"Where are your parents?"

"Dead." Stephan replied flatly.

"Oh." Maleficent thought for a moment. "Where do you live?"

Stephan's eyes narrowed with an emotion Maleficent did not possess. "One day I'm going to live in the Palace, surrounded by riches without a care in the world." He paused, his face once more a sullen mask. "I live now in the hayloft of a barn."

"Oh." Maleficent replied again. "I live in a tree." Stephan's brows came together, but he held his opinion behind stone-flint eyes. 

Maleficent gestured to Stephan, "come," she said, "it is time to take you back to where you belong as well."


	3. First Love

Maleficent led Stephan back across the boarder where the carved stones marked the cut-off between the two kingdoms. The forest behind the figures dwarfed the young travelers, just as the wide prairies foreshortened the towering castle in the distance.

The wind played with the ends of Maleficent's hair and the rough hem of Stephan's coat. With stars in her eyes Maleficent asked Stephan in a rather desperate tone "Will I see you again?"

Stephan turned to Maleficent, a half smile playing hide and seek around his mouth. "Yes." And stuck out his grubby palm for her to shake. Tentatively Maleficent reached for his outstretched hand, her own shy smile echoing his.

But as their hands met, Maleficent pulled away quickly as if he had hurt her. Distraught Stephan asked, "what is wrong?"

"Iron," Maleficent whispered, "your ring. Iron burns faeries." Horrified at hurting his new acquaintance Stephan tore the ring from his finger and threw it as far as his bony shoulders could fling it.

Touched at his willingness to part with one of his few belongings for her sake, Maleficent blushed a sweet pink, and fell a little farther in love with the scrawny lad.

The two parted, knowing their next meeting would be soon enough.

 

........ ........ ........... ........... 

Their meetings became more and more frequent as the two grew into fast friends. A few older wood faeries even dared to hope the two could be the bridge that would bring peace to both kingdoms.

Maleficent took great joy in showing her home to Stephan. This and this and this. The way her feathers grew, the sparkling beetle carapaces she would collect, and scavenged bits of coloured ribbon. This and this and this.

One time Maleficent even tried to fly while carrying Stephan, but that had ended abruptly when he face-planted into the muddy river bank, and Maleficent had laughed.

.......... .............. ................. .............

Time touches the Veil differently than most places. For example there are no seasons. Years and months pass, but the Veil remains firmly in the ever-blooming state of spring.

Maleficent and Stephan changed, even as their scenery did not. Both grew in height, arms and legs lengthened and childhood melted from their features as snow in Alatia does. For a time both were lanky and uncomfortable with their new size as most youths often are, but even Stephan filled out a little as the more awkward years of their lives passed.

Flowers inevitably bloom as the winter snow melts away, and between these two childhood friends a new feeling bloomed. A first love.

Maleficent and Stephan reveled in their new found feelings and on Maleficent's sixteenth birthday Stephan gave her a gift. He called it True Love's Kiss.

But it wasn't.


	4. Part Ways

Stephan never let go of his wish to rise in society, and Maleficent could never understand why being with her in the Veil wasn’t enough to secure his happiness.   
His visits to the Veil of the Faeries became more and more infrequent, until eventually he stopped coming back at all.  
So Maleficent stopped waiting for him to return.   
As a child her wings had always been strong, and brought her much joy. Now that she was full grown her wings were even more magnificent. Her elegant horns crowned her regal forehead, the warm, living brown of her feathers was never marred by the dirt. For now her wings were so large and powerful they trailed behind her as she walked. She was proud and graceful as any gazelle, but always carried the air and look of a keen falcon.  
With Larger and stronger wings than any other faerie, Maleficent became the protector of the Veil, leading and defending the faeries’ home from outside forces.  
Forces that were now marching an offensive campaign against her people.

……………….. ………………… ………………….

King Theobald the fifth was a greedy, aging king. There was never enough gold, or jewels, or power to keep him satisfied for long. And though the majority of his peasants lived in desperate poverty, he sat, creaky and fat, growing grey hairs in the very lap of luxury.   
His latest flight of fancy was leading his troops to battle against his sworn enemies, the faeries.

…… ……….. ……………..

The gathering fog only added to the soldiers growing uneasiness as the war-horses stepped and whinnied like spooked mares.  
It’s gloom came at them like a corpse’s shroud, reaching for each armor-clad warrior before drifting off, leaving only it’s cold kiss and a trail of goose-pimples on chilled flesh.   
The familiar clinks and clangs of battle gear echoed strangely even on the ears of war-hardened veterans as the King of Alatia led his men through the long, dry grass to the edge of the Veil.   
When the monoliths that marked the boarder were equal with the height of a man in the distance, the King turned to his soldiers.  
“Guard, Halt!” the flag-bearer called to the men at the King’s signal. Obediently they pulled into rank and halted to hear what wisdom their King could bestow upon them.   
“There they are, the mysterious Moors!” King Theobald the Fifth croaked to the assembled mercenaries. “Where no one dares to venture for fear of the magical creatures that lurk within.” He paused, sizing up his captive audience, “Well I say CRUSH THEM!” An obligatory cheer lifts from the gathered men.   
The King turned his horse, over-burdened by his weight, to face the Veil once more. Just in time to witness the arrival of a great winged figure.

…………… ……………… ………….

Maleficent landed dramatically on a stone outcropping before the gathered forces. The fog rippling and tearing like disturbed pond scum at her feet. Her keen eyes perusing the troops that lingered frozen before her.   
“Go no further!” She bellowed to the assembled men.   
“A King does not take orders from a winged elf.” The King spat through his snowy beard. The soldiers behind him laughed heartily at the lone woman before them.   
“You are no King to me.” Maleficent called back. Fixing a stare sharp enough to stun birds mid-flight upon the ridiculous King.  
King Theobald the Fifth’s face contorted with rage. “Bring me her head!” He ordered the men, who quickly drew their swords behind him. Maleficent stood unmoving and proud before them. Even as their commander ordered them to “Advance!”   
Heavy boots kicked up mud, and horses surged forward at their orders. Maleficent eyed the oncoming troops and cried out “Arise, and stand with me!”  
The ground rumbled and broke at her feet. Massive columns of dirt sprung free as the surrounding forest uprooted and revealed great roaring monsters of roots and moss.   
The men behind the King cried out in fear, “it’s the dark creatures!” Their frightened voices echoing as each battalion heard their foes name anew.  
Out of the gloom more forest warriors appeared. Riding on the backs of horrifying boars with jagged tusks and wicked little eyes. The Tree-folk carried long spears and spoke in the screeching roars of their kin.   
Maleficent smiled. Beside her the ground birthed a woods-made creature even more terrible, a gigantic serpent with rows and rows of sharp, curving teeth. It’s resounding battle cry caused many a war horse to rear and throw their riders.   
The yellow of Maleficent’s eyes gleamed as the Generals called for a charge. Her own call lifted from her throat as she leapt from her perch and into the fray. The woodland Boarder Guards tore through the legions of men. One Guard able to decimate entire flanks of the enemies forces. The vined serpent swallowed horses and soldiers whole and Maleficent swooped down on the unsuspecting men, knocking them clear off their mounts, and using her powerful wings to blast formations apart with torrents of wind.   
The King blustered uselessly amid the chaos was an easy target. Maleficent swooped down upon the vulnerable King and tackled him clean off his long-suffering mount.   
Maleficent landed much like a cat upon his silver breastplate. The King flailed indignantly in the muck. Maleficent’s smile grew even wider as she moved to crush him beneath his own armor. But the King threw out his arm in defense, and the iron gauntlets made direct contact with the skin of Maleficent’s collar bone.   
Burned by the bane of her people, Maleficent was forced back from the King, allowing his attendants to quickly surround their fallen monarch and cart him off to safety.   
Maleficent hissed under her breath as her stinging flesh healed itself. Her quarry had escaped, but the faeries had won the day for the Alatian army retreated with their King.   
So the Faeries returned, once again triumphant, to the Veil.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a little longer than the first few chapters..... hope you enjoyed it... at least a little.


	5. The King's Challenge

Maleficent soared. Other faeries’ wings could carry them all manner of distances, but Maleficent’s wings were special. For she alone could fly high above the clouds, to a world even faeries could only dream of.

She swooped and banked, raced her shadow across cloud tops, and fluttered in the secret pleasure that was all her own.

The sunset turned the clouds to cream, and washed the world in wonderful pinks and golds, and better yet, a deep red. Tomorrow’s winds would be wonderful, and Maleficent could feel herself grin in the slowly chilling air.

She let herself drift as she enjoyed her last flight of the day, from her cloud vantage point she could see the twinkling lights of the Veil as the Nightflowers began to bloom. In the west the grays of King Theobald’s castle cast long shadows over the gold-dipped fields.

Everything was peaceful, and with a sigh, Maleficent began her descent. There would be no further attacks tonight.

………………………………………………………………………

Maleficent had wounded the King. Her landing had given King Theobald the Fifth injuries that a young, healthy man would have walked away happily with. But for the elderly King, such injuries he would never recover from.

King Theobald coughed pitifully for effect as he slumped ever lower into his feather-down pillows. His ministers and trusted advisors gathered like an impatient flock of carrion birds at his feet. All of them had come for the death of the King. King Theobald eyed his would-be successors.

The King had many things, but he did not have a Theobald the Sixth to take his place. He did have a daughter, a beautiful young woman with long blonde hair and an innocent smile. He liked her well enough, even if she was sort of silly and spoiled. The King had not yet decided on her husband, for a man who would marry the Princess Margaret would do so to cleanly and legally take Theobald’s crown. So he had held off on giving his only daughter to anyone. Now he had no choice.

Shrewdly he sized up the men in front of him. The Minister of Finance was capable, but too old. The Chief Executioner was too ironic, the Foreign Relations Minister already had six children with his first wife, the Guild Master had nine. And it certainly couldn’t be his General, or his Captain of the Guards, both were far too young and far too handsome to replace him.

The King gave a gasping little sigh. He would have to find another way to decide.

………………………………………………………………………

Unnoticed by the King a manservant slowly filled the golden pitcher with cool water. Dressed as he was in the royal livery, he was hardly distinguishable from any other manservant. And yet, there was something about him.

A thin, and rather ugly man, he practically sneered through a curtain of stringy, dull hair. His nose was long, and his eyes were dark and shifty. At the sound of his master’s gasping he slunk across the room, a golden embroidered pillow clutched in his reedy hands.

“You’re majesty.” He said in an odd, nasally voice, as he propped the throw pillow behind King Theobald the Fifth’s head.

The King nodded absently as an idea came to him. A marvelous idea that would reveal to him a worthy successor. The King was almost smug when he addressed the room. “Go forth, my sons, and avenge me.”

Nothing more needed to be said. The open challenge received and understood the men filed out of the bedchamber, the hunt for the winged elf had begun. The King coughed once more, two birds indeed.

…………………………………………………………..

Shadowy night had long descended upon the Veil of Faerie when the news reached Maleficent. It was brought to her by a small and rather flighty faerie by the name of PetalDreams. Stephan waited for her at the Border.

Maleficent walked with long strides, a conflicted crease between her high-arched brows. It had been years since she had last seen her childhood playmate and first love. And far too much time had passed for there to be any hope of rekindling any sort of romantic feelings. So whatever was she all heated up about? His sudden appearance would be brief and meaningless, or so Maleficent kept telling herself.

…………………………………………………………………….

Stephan called out into the Moors, “Male-fi-cent!” His voice had changed greatly from the time he was small. “Male-fi-cent”, his voice, now nasally and strained, rang through the Veil.

He was dressed in a peasants forest garb, of dark hides and brown homespun cloth. His hair hung lank and thin down at his chin, like some moth-eaten curtains. His nose was still overlong for his face, and his eyes hadn’t changed. Dark and unsettling, they raked over the shadowed wood, searching for his Faerie.

He had tied his mount some distance away, and it munched the tall ground cover half-heartedly as it kept a wary eye trained on the forrest.

Stephan shifted the weight of the pack to his other shoulder as he wandered back around the small clearing. It’s guilt making him uneasy. The clear pool babbled incoherently at the strange man, protesting his presence.

Maleficent had to come, if she didn’t all of this was for naught, and Stephan would never be King. He paced slightly back and forth, now beginning to worry.

On his third lap around the ash tree he saw her. Her silhouette was intimidating. Dark, elegant and tall. Her horns furthering her powerful and regal appearance.

“Maleficent?” He asked the dark figure. He wiped his sweaty palms on his worn trouser leg. “Maleficent?” He asked again.

“Hello Stephan” was the melodious reply. Maleficent stepped out into the light of the clearing.

Stephan nearly gasped aloud. Maleficent had always been beautiful to him, but now she was indescribable. Her pale face lit the darkness as if fashioned from the moon itself. The hair he knew was a deep brown was an ink halo with majestic horns. Her eyes were more guarded now though than he had last seen her, but their color had not dulled with the years that separated them and bore into what felt like his very soul. He cleared his throat. “Maleficent. I’ve come to warn you. The King has put a price on your head. They will be coming to kill you.”

Maleficent studied the man in front of her. So familiar, and yet a stranger. Even as a child Stephan had never been handsome, but no matter how much time goes by there is always a glow about a first love. An indescribably attraction that binds the two together. A human woman would have dismissed Stephan as ugly or too short (Faeries care less for physical beauty), even loathed him for vanishing all those years ago, but Maleficent could see nothing but the fond childhood memories and the rose-colored glasses of their young love, and her heart shifted.

“I see.” Maleficent replied. Her face did not lose it’s cool, diamond-cut quality. Stephan shifted nervously, waiting for anything, anything to point him in the right direction.

“Maleficent…..” Stephan started,wringing his hands unconsciously in his shirt, “…..I’m sorry, for what happened between us.” His speech was wheezy, his voice nasally, choked up, his distress apparent as his breathing became more labored. “…….I should have known that Alatia would not open it’s doors and except me. That Faeries….that you, Maleficent, were all I really needed to live a long and happy life. Because….because….because I love you, Maleficent.” Stephan’s eyes peered up at Maleficent gauging her reaction. The lies lay heavy in his stomach, but he kept his face the perfect image of penitence with a touch of admiration. Maleficent studied Stephan shrewdly, her expression softening as his words further melted the guards around her heart. “Come” she said, and led him deeper into the Veil, leaving his horse and the majority of his packs behind.


End file.
